Iraqis seize al-Qaida figure

U.S. envoy says risk that violence will trigger civil war has passed

Alexandra Zavis, The Associated Press

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, February 27, 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces announced Monday the capture of a senior al-Qaida in Iraq figure, and the U.S. ambassador said the risk of civil war from last week's sectarian violence was over.

Violence throughout Iraq killed 36 people Monday, as fierce fighting broke out between Iraqi commandos and insurgents southeast of the capital.

But sectarian clashes have declined sharply since the bloodletting that followed the destruction of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, and Baghdad residents returned to their jobs after three days of a government-imposed curfew.

"I think the country came to the brink of a civil war, but the Iraqis decided that they didn't want to go down that path, and came together," the ambassador told CNN.

"Clearly the terrorists who plotted that attack wanted to provoke a civil war. It looked quite dangerous in the initial 48 hours, but I believe that the Iraqis decided to come together."

The Washington Post reported today that more than 1,300 Iraqis were killed in the violence following the Samarra shrine attack, citing Baghdad's main morgue.

On Monday, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said they believe American journalist Jill Carroll remains alive the day after a deadline set by her captors passed with no word of her fate.

A senior ministry official refused to say why they don't believe Carroll's captors carried out their threat to kill the 28-year-old freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor.

The captured al-Qaida figure was identified as Abou al-Farouq, a Syrian who financed and coordinated groups working for Iraq's most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, an Interior Ministry officer said.

Acting on a tip from residents, members of the Interior Ministry's Wolf Brigade captured al-Farouq with five other followers of al-Zarqawi near Bakr, about 100 miles west of Baghdad, the ministry said.

The Defense Ministry said Iraqi security forces have killed 35 insurgents and arrested 487 in raids across the country since the bombing last Wednesday of the Samarra shrine.

The Shiite-Sunni violence threatened U.S. plans for a broad-based government capable of luring Sunni Arabs away from the deadly insurgency so coalition troops can begin heading home.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, whose Iraqi Accordance Front spearheaded the Sunni walkout from the talks, said the Sunnis are "intent on participating" in a new government but are holding out for "some conditions" to be met.

The State Department praised the Sunni leadership as "looking to get back into the game, full strength" and brushed aside the extra demands.

The speed with which sectarian attacks spread from Samarra to Baghdad and Shiite strongholds in southern Iraq raised concern about the ability of Iraq's understaffed and ill-equipped security forces to handle the crisis.

Sunni leaders accused the Shiite-dominated police and army of standing by as Shiite militiamen sprayed mosques with machine-gun fire and took over some of them. More than 200 people were reported killed in sectarian violence.

The Defense Ministry countered Monday that a curfew in Baghdad and three surrounding provinces curtailed the violence.

A spokesman identified the Iraqis captured and killed since Wednesday as linked to various terror groups, including al-Qaida in Iraq, but could not confirm whether any of them took part in the Samara shrine bombing.

The body of an official with Iraq's largest Sunni Muslim political group was delivered to the Health Ministry morgue Monday with signs of torture, his party said.

The U.S. military said an American soldier had died from non-combat-related injuries suffered Friday north of Baghdad.